TGB’s “This Week in Elder News”

[A sample of Elder news from Ronni Bennett at TGB: In this regular Saturday feature you will find links to news items from the preceding week related to elders and aging, along with whatever else catches my fancy that I think you might like to know. Suggestions are welcome with, however, no promises of publication.]

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Dr. Bill Thomas Presents:

Dr. Thomas' Age of Disruption Tour visits 30 cities in 2016 to introduce audiences to a new and highly disruptive understanding of aging.

Today marks the launch of a new group blog, Wowowow which stands for “The Women on the Web”. The blog features a bunch of New York’s elite, elder women such as gossip maven Liz Smith, actors Candace Bergen and Whoopi Goldberg, TV journalist Leslie Stahl, “Miss Manners” otherwise known as Judith Martin, comedian Lily Tomlin and a few more. I have no idea yet how “wow” this idea is, but you can read more about it here.

Dr. Robert N. Butler who invented the term “ageism” and who is CEO and president of the International Longevity Center-USA, published an issue brief on elders and drug safety [pdf]. Although elders use 40 percent of all prescription drugs, the FDA does not require us to be included in trials on efficacy and safety. This is crucial information you and your physician should know.

On the same topic, manufacturers increased the prices of prescription drugs by an average of 7.4 percent last year – two-and-a-half times the rate of inflation. The price of the sleep drug Ambien jumped 27.7 percent.

Tenure can be hard to come by for college professors; many wait decades. But 68-year old Victoria Rauch Lichterman, assistant professor of humanities at New York City College of Technology who focuses on the negative effects of ageism, was recently granted tenure after just six years of teaching at the school. Score one for elder academics. [Hat tip to Naomi Dagen Bloom of A Little Red Hen]

When Crabby Old Lady posted her objections last Tuesday to Hillary Clinton Feminists, she quoted but did not comment on a NOW leader’s swipe at black women who choose not to vote for Senator Clinton because – well, Crabby is white and doesn’t believe she can properly speak for black women. Now, G Bitch has done it for Crabby in a colorfully worded and no-uncertain-terms rant.

When, through some glitch in the system, Social Security declares you dead, it is nearly impossible to convince the agency your heart still beats. “’I don’t think people realize how difficult it is to be dead when you’re not,’ said [Laura] Todd, who is very much alive…even though the federal government has said otherwise for many years.” It happens more often than you would think. Between January 2004 and September 2005, Social Security had to resurrect 23,366 beneficiaries and plenty more who remain active and above ground are still on the dead list.

About Kavan Peterson, Editor, ChangingAging.org

Kavan is a social media entrepreneur committed to growing the use of social networking towards promoting the equality, sustainability, health and well being of people of all ages. Combining careers as a national journalist and public relations expert, Kavan focuses on the power of user-generated content to communicate ideas and build movements.